


Red Death

by Heavenly_Pearl



Series: Dream Lovers [6]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime), Sailor Moon - All Media Types
Genre: Drama, F/M, Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-24
Updated: 2012-02-24
Packaged: 2017-10-31 16:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/346217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heavenly_Pearl/pseuds/Heavenly_Pearl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helios watches his beloved maiden die from a deadly disease, unable to save her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Death

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: "Sailor Moon" is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.
> 
> Written for the sm_monthly community at Livejournal, Theme - Sick.

He hated seeing her in so much pain.

Every groan, every moan, every stifled cry cut through his heart like a knife, and the worst thing about it all was that there didn't seem to be anything he, or anybody else, could do about it. Mercury had performed every medical test known to man, but even with her vast knowledge of diseases, she couldn't seem to be able to diagnose his wife's mysterious illness. The only thing they could do in the meantime was try to keep Serenity as comfortable as possible, which wasn't easy when none of her medications wanted to work.

"Can't you use her powers to heal her, Saturn?" Helios asked as his wife's best friend took the thermometer out of her mouth and recorded the reading on her chart.

"I would in a heartbeat if I could, Helios, but my powers only heal physical injuries," Saturn explained, with a somber shake of her head. "I can't even lessen her pain."

"Damn it." Helios wasn't prone to cursing, but the swear seemed appropriate concerning the circumstances. "Why aren't the medications working? Why doesn't anything seem to be working?"

"Mercury is trying her best to find out why, but -"

"Her best isn't good enough!" Helios interrupted, not wanting to hear yet another excuse as to why Serenity's illness remained undiagnosed. "I want answers, now!"

"I'll go down to the labs and see if she's made any progress," Saturn offered, heading toward the door.

She left, and Helios moved from the chair where he had been sitting while Saturn checked Serenity's vitals back to the bed. He had not left his wife's side for a moment since that morning, when she had woken up suddenly complaining of being unbearingly hot despite the comfortable temperature of their bedroom. Taking the compress off her forehead, Helios refilled it with fresh ice from the bucket Saturn had brought up with her.

"It's so hot, Helios," Serenity said in a weak voice, her eyes fluttering open when he placed the cold compress back on her forehead. "Why is it so hot?"

"You have a very high fever, my maiden," he replied. "Mercury hasn't been able to uncover the reason yet, but she's working very hard to find out what's wrong with you."

"Mama, Papa… Where are they?"

"Serenity-sama and Endymion-sama are on their way back from Kinmoku. They should be home any moment now." The king and queen had been on an official week-long visit of goodwill to the home of the Starlights, but immediately decided to cut their trip short when they heard of their beloved daughter's illness.

As if right on cue, the door to their bedroom swung open, and the king and queen rushed inside. Neo-Queen Serenity hurried over to her daughter's bedside, while King Endymion stood at the foot of the bed, trying to seem calm even though Helios knew he must be a wreck inside.

"How is she, Helios?" the king asked, his knuckles white as he gripped the top of the footboard. "Has there been any more news since Luna contacted us?"

Helios shook his head, wishing with all his heart he had better news. "Mercury still hasn't been able to give us a diagnosis, and none of the medications she's given her seem to help." Standing up, Helios decided to let his wife's parents have some time alone with her. "I'm going down to the kitchen to get some lunch. Do any of you want me to bring you back anything?" he asked.

Both the king and queen shook their heads, and Helios quietly left the room, although he did not head down to the kitchen like he said he would. He was too worried to even think about eating. Instead, he headed toward Mercury's laboratory, running into Saturn along the way.

"Helios, Mercury's finally been able to make a diagnosis," she announced, although by the dark look in Saturn's eye, Helios knew it was not good news.

"What is it?" he asked, mentally preparing himself for the worst.

"It's Martian fever." Saturn looked on the verge of tears as she said the words aloud.

Helios, however, had never heard of such a thing before. "Martian fever? What is that?"

"It's an ancient illness, going back to the days of the Silver Millennium," she explained, unable to look him in the eye. "That's why Mercury had such a tough time with the diagnosis. It was thought to have died out when the Silver Millennium ended and Mars became a dead planet. A case of Martian fever hasn't been reported in centuries, but we suspect she may have contacted it somehow last month when you two went on that vacation to Mars. The symptoms don't usually show themselves until late in the ill-"

"Saturn, what does this mean for Serenity?" Helios demanded to know, not wanting a history lesson. "Is there a cure? Will she be alright?"

Saturn didn't say a word. She simply shook her head and embraced him.

"She's dying? My wife is dying?" Helios asked, shell-shocked. "No, that isn't possible. There has to be something we can do to save her. I'll send Luna and Artemis down to the Lunar Archives, and I'm sure they can find something in the old Lunarian texts…"

"A cure was never found, Helios," Saturn said. Her voice cracked, and he knew without looking down that she was struggling not to cry. "They called it the Red Death because once someone was infected, there was nothing anybody could do to save them. Not even the power of Queen Serenity's ginzuishou was able to fight it."

"Then…"

Her embraced tightened. "I'm sorry, Helios. I'm so, so sorry."

Not wanting her comfort, or anyone else's, for that matter, Helios pulled away, running as fast as he could back to their bedroom. Servants stared after him as if he was a crazy man, but, at the moment, he couldn't have cared less for propriety. If what Saturn said was true, he intended to spend every last second he could with his maiden, even if it meant he caught the Red Death as well. He hadn't thought to ask Saturn if the disease was contagious or not, but if it was, he would consider it a blessing, for he could not imagine living the rest of his life without her by his side.

By the time he returned to the bedroom, however, it was too late. King Endymion held his daughter's lifeless body in his arms, sobbing into her hair, as Serenity's mother clenched her namesake's hand to her chest, hysterically whispering, "Come back to us, Small Lady, come back to us! Oh, please, come back!" as tears ran down her cheeks. Neither noticed Helios' arrival until he let go of his grip on the door and it closed behind him with a soft click that sounded far too loud in the quiet room.

"Helios…"

Neo-Queen Serenity stood up and moved to hug him, though she stopped when Helios shook his head. Understanding, she touched her husband's shoulder, and the two of them reluctantly left after kissing their only daughter one more time goodbye.

Once the door had closed behind them, Helios slowly approached the bed, in disbelief of what he saw. His maiden, always so full of life and energy, motionless. Dead. It felt like a nightmare.

It had to be a nightmare.

How could she have left him so quickly? He had only been gone ten, fifteen minutes at the most. Her parents had only just returned home from their trip, and Pluto, Serenity's other best friend, hadn't even been informed of her illness yet, since only those of the Lunarian line were allowed to visit the Time Gates.

Nobody had had the chance to give her a proper goodbye.

Taking the spot on the bed where the king had been sitting, Helios gathered his wife in his arms, his lips desperately pressed against her now cool forehead as if she was a princess in a fairy tale, only requiring the kiss of her one true love to bring her back to life. Of course, they weren't living in a fairy tale, and she remained unresponsive in his arms, even when he moved down to kiss her lips, the tears rolling down his cheeks giving them a salty taste.

"Serenity…"

He held her closer, stroking her hair and memorizing the features of her exquisitely beautiful face, lovely even in death. There was so much he wished he could have told her, but only one thing came to his mind at that moment.

"I love you, my maiden. Sweet dreams."


End file.
